Delicate China
by ShinimegamisScythe
Summary: First off, this story deals with YAOI (M/M relationships).Can't handle? Don't read.| During a solo mission, Wufei has gone missing. Duo and Heero have order to find him. Will they? What happened to the 'solitary dragon'? ch.02 up!
1. Default Chapter

warnings: AU, OOC, (mention of) torture, some general nastiness  
  
spoilers: uh... mild EW spoiler?  
  
disclaimer: If the word "if" didn't exist, I'd be a millionaire, I'd have a job, and I'd own the G-boys.   
Unfortunately, it does. *grumbles* Life just isn't fair, eh?  
  
Lucifer: yeah, damn right, it isn't.  
Azrael: Life is hard and injust, and it always ends in my embrace.  
Larian: Ah, does that mean I'm dead? *cuddles a little closer to Azra-chan*  
Lucifer: *snort*  
  
Key: ah, you know the drill. "spoken text", 'thoughts'  
  
_______________________  
  
DELICATE CHINA  
By ShinimegamisScythe  
  
Chapter one  
"Preventers Yui and Maxwell, you are expected at the commander's office!"   
the loudspeaker blared through the building.  
  
Heero and Duo, who had been at the workout area, looked at each other.  
  
"What did you do this time, baka?" Heero looked at Duo with a mock-scowl.  
"Why do you always think it was _me_ who did something wrong?" Duo whined,  
equally mocking.  
  
Grinning at each other, they hurried to Lady Une's office, both still in  
their workout-clothes.  
  
After a frosty "Come in." they entered, and stood in front of her desk.  
  
"Yui, Maxwell, I trust you to know that Preventer Chang has not reported  
back for over two weeks now?"  
  
Heero and Duo looked at each other, then simultaneously nodded.  
  
"Yes, we know. Any news?" Heero inquired.  
  
Une stared at him sourly. "Unfortunately not. However, some people here   
seem to think that he ... has changed sides, and might have sided with   
the group he has been sent to investigate."  
  
"That's _bullshit_!" Duo blurted out, but snapped his mouth shut when  
Une glared at him.  
  
"I _know_ that Maxwell. However, the rumor is spreading throughout HQ,   
and some people think me a blue-eyed idiot, if I don't send someone to   
investigate. I want the two of you to go after him. I believe that   
something must have happened to him, I have no other explanation why he   
wouldn't make contact in so long."  
  
Heero and Duo nodded.  
  
"Well then, you're dismissed. I trust you to find him."  
  
When the two were about to leave the room, Une called them back.  
  
"I... you should know that Chang is not the first agent who... disappeared  
there... we lost five agents before him..."  
  
"What???" Duo exploded. "Why didn't we know about that?"  
  
"That's classified, Maxwell. I _couldn't_ tell you. Now get your asses  
in gear, I'm waiting for results."   
When Duo and Heero had finally left the office, she quietly muttered "Sally   
will have my hide if I don't get her baby-boy back to her soon..."  
  
-*-  
  
twenty minutes later, Duo's & Heero's appartment  
"Geez, I really hope that 'Fei is in some kind of trouble..." Duo muttered   
while stuffing clothes into his duffel bag, earning a disbelieving glare   
from his friend.  
  
"_What_ did you just say?"  
  
"Ah, I mean, it would really suck if we turned up just to realize that our   
arrival blew his cover. I mean, it's well possible that he worked himself   
so well into the organisation, that he really had no possibility contacting   
HQ without blowing his cover."  
  
"Ah." Heero nodded. "We will handle this case with extreme caution. I am   
sure that nothing will happen to Chang, if he's still under cover."  
  
When they were both done packing, Heero spread a map of Bremen on the table.  
  
"Okay, we know that he booked a room at the Maritim Hotel. Let's check in   
there as well, and try to find out which room was his."  
  
"Okay, I'll book us a double."  
  
"Wait, Heero. I _think_ whe should get single rooms. Wouldn't want to be  
looked down on as fags, ne?"  
  
Heero hesitated, then agreed. He knew that Duo wouldn't really mind, but  
he himself was rather uncomfortable being thought of as gay. He was, after  
all, engaged. And Relena would rip off his head, if such rumors got to her  
ears.  
  
32 hours later, they arrived at Bremen airport and stood at the baggage band-conveyor.   
(hope I got the word right... *shrugs*)  
  
Two hours later, they still stood there. _Without_ their luggage.   
"Heero...?"   
"Hn?"   
"Shoot me..."   
"Hn... baka."  
"Okay okay, I'll shut up. Let's go pester the people about our stuff, 'kay."  
"...'Kay."  
  
The clerk they complained to was sympathetic and promised to call when they  
found out the whereabouts of the boys' stuff. Duo gave them the number of the hotel.   
"We'll be at the Maritim Hotel rooms 135 and 118, right?"   
Heero nodded and the airport-clerk wrote the information down.  
  
"We are _rea-lly_ sorry, sirs. I wish you a good time here in Bremen none the less."   
The man told them.  
  
They left the airport and hailed a taxi.  
  
"Ne, Hee-chan?"  
"What?"  
"Our first day here in Germany is rather sucky, eh?"  
"Hn."  
"Yeah. Let's go buy some clothes after we checked in, okay?"  
"yeah."  
"Are you tired? Or worried?"  
"Hn? Why?"  
"You're back to monosyllables."  
"... hn. Both."  
"oh...'kay."  
  
They were silent for the rest of the drive.  
At the hotel, they checked in, and after the friendly lady at the reception had told   
them how to get to the city, with the friendly hint that the shops would close in one   
and a half hours, the two boys marched into town, glad that they were getting some fresh air.  
  
After each of them had bought enough clothes to get them over at least four days, they   
returned to the hotel, from where Heero called Lady Une.  
  
"We have arrived, but our baggage hasn't." he reported sourly. "Tomorrow we'll begin   
reconnaissance." After the phone call, both dove into dinner with great appetite, since the   
food on the flight had 'tasted like shit', as Duo had so eloquently put it.  
  
The next day, Heero and Duo started to ask the guests and employees about Wufei, and some   
recognised the 'cute Chinese' on the photo Duo had brought along.  
  
"Oh, yes, I remember him. A really polite young man." An elderly woman said, smiling   
slightly. "He sometimes sat at the same table than I, he always held my chair when I was   
sitting down. But sadly I haven't seen him here for quite some time." She sighed. "I told   
him that he would get into bad company, always cruising through the 'Viertel'[1]." She shook   
her head in that motherly-worried way old women often had.  
  
"The 'Viertel'?" Duo asked, coloring his voice with worry. "What's that?"  
  
"Ah, it's a rather... bad neighbourhood. You know, _drug-dealers_, and, and ... _prostitutes_ "   
she explained in a hushed voice.  
  
"That's strange. That is not the kind of area he usually hangs out..." Duo said, and   
Heero nodded. They had claimed that they had had an appointment with their best friend at   
this hotel, and that they were worried because he had not shown up.  
  
"Yes, yes, I thought so as well. He's such a __nice_ boy." The woman agreed, losing interest   
in the two boys when she noticed the person she had been waiting for entering the hotel-bar.  
  
They asked a couple of other people, but they all told them the same. Overall a nice guy,   
though he seemed to have an unhealthy attitude about women, had been seen in the 'Viertel'   
a few times, then just... stopped... coming back to the hotel.  
  
After Heero and Duo found out that the "Viertel", which was actually the local abbreviation   
for "Steintorvierte", was a part of the eastern districts of the town, they easily found their   
way there.  
  
"Maa, it's actually quite nice here, ne?" Duo said, as he looked at the old houses, which   
looked really nice.  
  
"Yeah, if it wasn't for the people here..." Heero more or less agreed, watching from the   
corner of his eye how a young woman bought drugs from a dirty-looking man.  
  
"Yeah, you're right." Duo sighed.  
  
Their first day ended without them having found any clue. So they decided to get some general   
information about the Viertel later. With his usual charming personality, Duo easily got into   
conversation with a cute waitress at the hotel bar.  
  
"Infos about the Viertel. Hmm... sure thing, cutie. Invite me to dinner when my shift is over,   
and I tell you everything I know. Deal?" Duo returned her grin. "Deal, if my buddy here can   
come with us." She looked Heero up and down, then her grin widened. "Sure thing. He's cute, too."   
With that, she winked at Heero and disappeared to resume her work.  
  
"Duo."  
"Eh?"  
"Omae o korosu."  
"Ha ha, very funny. She's not that bad, is she?"  
"She is."  
"Why?"  
"She..."  
"She?"  
"She mumblemumble"  
"What? I didn't quite catch that."  
"She grabbed my ass." Heero finally hissed into Duo's ear, who in turn had to laugh so hard that   
his Kiba [2] came up through his nose.  
  
"Ugh... disgusting." He muttered as he wiped his nose on a tissue. "And that was _not_ funny."   
He added, glaring at the grinning bartender.  
  
Later that evening, Duo and Heero sat in a small Bistro nearbye, together with the waitress who   
had introduced herself as Jill.  
  
"So, cutie, what exactly do you want to know about the Viertel?" she asked, as they were waiting   
for their food to arrive.  
  
"Well, actually, we'd like to have some... background info..." Duo began hesitatingly. "You know,   
like, what kind of people live there, what kind of people work there, what kind of... stuff...   
goes on there..."  
  
Jill looked at him sharply. "If you give me an honest answer _why_ you want to know these think,   
I'll think about what I can tell you."  
  
"I... we..." he looked at Heero, who quietly nodded. They were grasping at straws here. "A friend   
of ours has gone missing, and he was last seen frequenting that area."  
  
"Oh! I... understand. This friend of yours, is she pretty?"  
  
"No, he's like, fucking gorgeous!" Duo burst out, then slapped his mouth and blushed crimson. From   
the corner of his eye, he watched Heero's reaction, but the Japanese boy seemed as stoic as ever.  
  
"Ah, heh heh... nichts für ungut[3]..."  
Jill was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking. "Well... I know that there have been quite some   
gang-wars going on there, but I can't tell you who fought whom and who won, because I'm not really   
in the scene there. I have a contact there, though, and she _might_ be able to help you."  
  
tbc  
-------------------------------  
  
[1] Viertel = neighbourhood, quarter  
The "Viertel"; it's the "Steintor-viertel", acutally a nice area in Bremen, but the red-light district   
is there, and a lot of drug-dealings are going on there as well.  
[2] "KiBa" = "KirschBanane" = mixed cherry and banana-juice (non-alcoholic ^_^)  
[3] "Nichts für ungut." - no hard feelings; no offence, no offence meant  
  
======================================  
  
Well, that's it for now. Liked it? Hated it? C&C is welcome ^__^  
  
Scythe 


	2. chapter two

Disclaimer: The boy's aren't mine... more's the pity  
Warnings: language, TORTURE, probably AU & OOC  
Delicate China  
By ShinimegamisScythe  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Heero and Duo looked at each other.   
"A contact? What kind of contact?" Heero inquired.  
"Well, a friend of mine works in the horizontal business. Tomorrow's the day she usually stays at home. If you want to met her, I could phone her tonight and ask her to meet you then?"  
"Hey, hon, that'd be great. Err... does horizontal business mean what I think it means?"  
"Yeah, she's a prostitute. Got a problem with that?"  
"Nope, not at all!" Duo grinned. Meanwhile, their food (Pizza Pasta for Duo, Spaghetti for Jill and Maccaroni for Heero) had arrived, and they hungrily wolfed it down; with Duo stealing from both Heero's and Jill's plates.  
  
When it came to saying goodbye, Jill left with the promise that she'd leave a message at the reception, once she'd have spoken with her friend. The two Preventers returned to the hotel, where Duo suddenly spoke up.  
"Ne, Heero?"  
"What is it?"  
"Are you, like, really tired? Or could we do some talking? I mean, _serious_ talking?"  
"Unh... It's not really _that_ late. If you want to talk, come with me to my room."  
When they arrived there, Heero stripped and headed for the bathroom.  
"You don't mind me taking a shower while we talk, do you?"  
"Who, me? Nope." Duo grinned inwardly. 'Nope, I don't mind. Not at all...' he thought, as he watched Heero stepping into the shower. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, which he had to voice out loud.   
"Err... Heero?"  
"Hn?"  
"Do you happen to have bought some night-clothes? I kinda forgot..."  
"..." No answer.  
"Heero?"  
"Yeah, I heard you. I... I think I forgot, too."  
"Ah, the heck with it... it's not like anybody will complain when we're sleeping either in our T-shirts or in the nude, eh?"  
That earned him a chuckle from Heero.  
"Well, I guess you're right on that. What is it that you originally wanted to speak about? It sure wasn't the night-clothes, or was it?"  
"Nah, not that one. That's nothing serious." Duo sat down on the lowered toilet-lid and chewed on his lower lip.  
"I wanted to talk about, umm... well..."  
"If you have a point, then get to it."  
"I do, I do... But it's kinda, err... I dunno where to start..."  
"Now _that's_ a first..." Heero muttered, as he washed his hair.  
"Hah hah... very funny. Well... it's about... did you know that Zechs and Noin aren't an item any longer?"  
"What?" Heero was surprised. "I thought they were going to marry?"  
"Well... they were. But Noin kicked him out."  
"Why that? I thought she loved that stubborn ass?"  
"Uh, yeah, she did. But she also wants children very badly."  
"Oh. And he doesn't? Seems odd, the last time I talked to him, he told me that he and Noin were going to have at _least_ one child?"  
"Ah, he wanted children, too. However, ..."  
"However?" Heero switched off the shower and wrapped himself into a towel.  
"He can't. He's not able to father children. And _this_ is where I actually come to the point."   
Heero looked at his friend sharply.  
"What do you mean?" his eyes glared daggers, but his voice trembled slightly.  
"I mean..." Duo ticked off on his fingers "Zechs - infertile. Quatre - his sisters only are semi-okay with his relationship with Tro because - he's sterile. Same goes with Tro. And 'Fei has been quite depressed about _something_, when I last saw him. You get the gist."  
"You are saying...?" Heero sat down on the edge of the bathtub, suddenly unable to stand, when his legs just refused to hold him any longer. A cold shiver ran down his spine. Just a few days ago, Relena had told him that wanted children. _His_ children.  
"Ah, I'm not really saying anything, Heero." Duo smiled at him sadly. "It's just... I know that _I_ too can't father any children. But in my case, the reason is an illness I had when I was younger. I just wanted you to know this, in case that your pink princess, err, queen, ever comes up with _that_ idea... - Umm... Hee-chan? You kinda look... err, not so good. You alright?"  
"Duo... don't beat around the bush. You're trying to tell me that we're _all_ sterile, because of the ... _training_ we've gone through, during the war. Am I right?" Duo hung his head.  
"Yeah, kinda." he admitted. "but hey, I might be wrong. Wouldn't be my first mistake, right? I mean, in Tro's and Zechs' case, the reason might be the tight pants they're always wearing. Fuck, in Zechs' case, it might even be his blue blood's fault. Y'know, inbreeding among royalty, and that stuff. And I don't actually _know_ why Wu was so down. I was just assuming things, after all, being unable to father children _would_ be a major crisis for Fei-Fei. After all, he _is_ the last living member of his whole clan..." Duo babbled, trying to lighten the mood. Heero managed a wobbly smile.  
"It's... all right. Thank you for telling me. After the training Professor J put me through, it _is_ very well possible that I might be sterile. I guess I should get that checked once we're back home. Relena has the right to know, should you be right about this matter." He quirked a rather sarcastic grin. "She started pestering me about wanting my children about ... three and a half weeks ago. Every other evening, or so..."  
"Ah... sorry, man."  
"Duo?"  
"Eh?"  
"I... would like to go to bed now."  
"Uh, of course. G'night, Heero. ... - Umm... I'm _really_ sorry..."  
"... I know. Sleep well."  
When Duo was gone, Heero let himself fall onto the almost too soft mattress of his bed.  
'Infertile, huh? ... Well... J _did_ warn me that some ..._irrelevant_ parts of me might not... _function_ properly...*  
He crossed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling for a long while before he finally managed to fall asleep.  
  
Meanwhile, Duo had just as much trouble finding proper rest. His mind wandered back to the conversation they'd had with Jill earlier that evening.  
'... did I really say _Fucking Gorgeous_? ... I think so... Hell, I knew I swing both ways but... _Wufei_?' He was surprised how his heart suddenly sped up at that thought. He furrowed his brows in confusion.  
'How come I never realized that I've fallen for that guy?' A small smile flitted across his elfin features, but was soon replaced by a worried frown.  
'Dammit Fei...Where are you? ... Are you alright?' It was _way_ after midnight, when Duo finally fell into a dream-troubled sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
*crack* *crack*  
"Maybe you should... reconsider, heir of the dragon clan. Surely you see how much you would profit from an alliance with us?"  
*crack* *crack*  
Bloodshot eyes opened warily. Wufei felt strangely... 'weightless'. He did not remember when he had stopped feeling the blows of the bamboo staff. When they first had started torturing him, he had used an ancient meditation technique to suppress the pain, but he had to find out that they knew how to deal with that. He now was covered with acupuncture-needles, which did not only suppress his technique, but _also_ enhanced the physical pain he had to endure. Until now.  
Now he only knew that he was still being beaten by the sound of the bamboo hitting against his flesh. With a start, he realized that he didn't even remember _why_ he was being hurt by these people in the first place. One some basic level, he knew that he should be furious at these people. Or at least maybe shocked about how badly he was being treated, but it had stopped to matter long ago. All he could feel now was a constant dull throbbing pain all over his body. He remembered that he had to fight hard _not_ to scream, when they had started torturing him, slowly peeling his skin off his back, whipping him, beating him. But not one single sound had ever passed over his lips.  
'He looks angry again... did I miss something...?' he idly wondered, when the round-faced man with the hip-long raven-colored braid snarled at him.  
"Are you still too good to speak with us? You're not even _looking_ at me, you insolent bastard!" The man was furious. But suddenly, a decidedly _evil_ grin spread over his face.  
"It seems quite obvious that you can't stand the sight of me, little prince... Well, let me help you with that. Your eyes shall no longer be offended - the needle!" he barked at the man who had until now been bringing the bamboo staff down on the young captive's back.  
Slowly, the meaning of those words trickled into Wufei's mind, when he saw the man approaching with a white-hot needle. No word nor sound came over his dry and bloodied lips, but his mind screamed and cringed in horror. The previous pain, he had more or less been successful of tuning out, but this...  
Mercifully, when the needle's tip entered his left eye through his closed eyelid, unconsciousness claimed him. He never felt his right eye getting the same cruel treatment, but something within him broke.  
No longer was he proud Chang Wufei, heir of the Dragon Clan, but merely a young man, who had suffered through one traumatizing horror too many. After sixteen days of constant torture, Wufei was broken.  
  
tbc 


End file.
